You need to be a bit careful that you don't fall into the surprisingly common trap of making it cheaper to build an empty hull and then 'upgrade' than it is to build from scratch.

All true. I maintain force lances are now what railguns were! At least they're a bit higher up the tech tree.
I would love to make it till Force Lancers (though I find the railgun art to be more menacing for some reason :))
What galaxy/difficulty setting do you use to generate such long games ...

I don't understand the high rating for heavy weapons - I often prefer dual normal weapons in that slot. It's higher dps, can target missiles/strikecraft, and the range is rarely a factor.
They are somewhat more effective thanks to their long range for sure when compared to normal mounts and due to ...

I don't understand the high rating for heavy weapons - I often prefer dual normal weapons in that slot. It's higher dps, can target missiles/strikecraft, and the range is rarely a factor.

It's very hard to make sure ship design doesn't fall into a stable equilibrium of 'build this ship and nothing ...

I think that's an excellent summary of the situation.

Also, I think we're all aware this stuff is *hard* to get 'right', particularly as 'right' is nebulous anyway. SiS is better than a great many other titles!

Sword of the Stars, incidentally, had woeful AI in a strategic sense, but narratively ...

Smaller fleet sizes probably make missile destroyers worse, if anything. It's just that missile spam is very cost effective.

the player is not motivated to lean into boarding with Humans besides this as they start with a heavy disadvantage in tech and need to research Boarding like anyone else (no pre-researched tech or discount)

Not sure that's true! Inferior ship designs and a disadvantage in tech already push them ...

Sometimes a rare salvage or tech find or something will change my plan, but my ideas about what to arm my ships with at what tech level are usually pretty clear from the outset of a game, and often what tech I should be pursuing is too. We might be able to shift what those techs will be, but there ...

I think the point about combat to transport vessel ratios is a good one.

Maybe shift? There is certainly a way to box select.

My own impression is that AI has always had big problematic blind spots, and I think those are hurting the game no matter how I balance it. Mistakes in fleet routing are the category of issues that most has my attention right now -- particularly in mid/late game, when you have large empires and/or ...

I think I agree.

I enjoyed using Phidi with mercenaries backed up by their own carriers, but I'm not sure how optimal that is. I haven't played them since I first started playing the game I think.

It's tough to balance that. The higher tier hulls are usually *much* better value for metal/production cost, even for Yoral.

Possibly it just means Yoral should pay slightly more in upkeep for their unusually powerful heavy/advanced destroyers?

So far I'm certainly feeling much more constrained by research and coin than industry and metal. I didn't used to bother upgrading (it was often less hassle just rebuild the ship and scrap the old one, or send it into a dangerous combat, and it was very expensive to do it the 'easy' way by coin ...

Ah, thanks.